Organizing Committee Chasing Olympic Dream

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, December 23, 2000

What Los Angeles did in the prosperous aftermath of the 1984 Olympic Games, San Francisco wants to do in 2012 -- if the city and the greater Bay Area land the Summer Olympics in a dozen years, that is.

At this point, it's a big if. But that doesn't mean folks can't dream big dreams.

"This is the legacy of the 1984 Olympics," said Anita DeFrantz, head of the AAF as well as first vice president of the International Olympic Committee. "We started with an endowment of $94 million and we have spent well over $100 million. Now it's (an endowment of) $220 million, all of it through investments. Depending on the stock market and bond markets."

"That's exactly what I want to do," she said. "That's a shining light, a beacon. That's what my passion is, making sports opportunities for youth. I want to help other people have the opportunity."

In her role as vice president of the IOC, DeFrantz got to see first-hand the results of the AAF program. At the Sydney Olympics, she placed gold medals around the necks of sisters Venus and Serena Williams, winners of the women's tennis doubles championship.

"I had the privilege of putting the gold medals on them," DeFrantz said. "They started in our program in junior tennis. The smile on our kids' faces is tangible reward for me. That's why I say I have the best job in the world."

Thanks to the vision of Ueberroth, who turned a grand losing proposition into a money-making venture. Since 1984, every Olympic Games has made a profit.

In Los Angeles, AAF provides sports programs for children in under-served communities, awards grants to youth sports groups, funds research and has an extensive Olympic library available for research purposes.

"That's a very attractive legacy of the Los Angeles Games," Cribbs said. "They've invested it well; they've managed it well."

Through BASOC, Cribbs hopes to do the same thing in 2012. Now that the Bay Area's bid for those Olympics is in the hands of the U.S. Olympic Committee, the work turns from theory to practice for Cribbs and her group.

"Our plans for the year look at hosting some events like beach volleyball and a wrestling tournament and working to do a triathlon that will follow the (proposed) 2012 course," Cribbs said. "We'll also be working with Stanford on the international track meet."

On June 9 of next year, Stanford's Cobb Track & Angell Field will be the site of an IAAF Grand Prix I meet that debuted last July under the name GMC Envoy Open. Sponsorship for the 2001 meet has yet to be determined but the event should attract elite American athletes looking for a tune-up meet in advance of the U.S. championships later in June.

Nancy Ditz, executive director of the Stanford meet, said she welcomes whatever help Cribbs, and BASOC, can give.

"What's good for us is good for them," Ditz said. "We're going to try to find sponsors and build our meet up. She's a wonderful idea person, always looking how to market things. And she knows absolutely everybody in Palo Alto."

In February, Cribbs has an initial meeting with Pat Rogers of the USOC's Ethics Commission. After the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, don't expect a briefcase full of cash to pass between BASOC and the USOC. A joke, of course.

"We're going to talk about going forward and doing things in an ethical manner," Cribbs said. "We're also going to work on a grassroots level to raise visibility of the bid."

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who leaves office in July, has said any U.S. city bidding for the 2012 Olympics should be considered the front- runner based on the country's track record and economic might. Dick Pound, a Canadian who is a vice president of the IOC, was not quite as optimistic as Samaranch.

"It depends who you pick," Pound said. "In the U.S., there's never any concern whether the U.S. can organize the Games; that's been proven. It's a matter of picking one that will stand up well against other major cities around the world."

Pound said cities that lose out in the bidding for the 2008 Olympics (the IOC will select the host city in July) will be in contention again in '12, specifically Beijing, Paris and Toronto.

"It's very hard to handicap the race until you know the players," he said.

Until 2002 at least, when the USOC will select the country's bid city for 2012, San Francisco is a player, a player with big dreams.

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